The Nettle Soldier
by Anath Tsurugi
Summary: With the wars finally finished, Rex had thought the kingdom might know some peace, but when he and his brothers uncover a plot to overthrow their barely stable homeland and run afowel of a particularly nasty curse, it falls to Rex to find a way to break the curse and save everything he loves. (Fairy tale AU)
1. First Night

(A/N) So I've been wanting to write some Clone Wars fairytales for a couple years now, but seem to only just now be finding the time for it. I've especially wanted to do a retelling of 'The Wild Swans' with Rex and his brothers, so hopefully I've managed to do the story at least a little justice. Also with Ahsoka's character I tried to strike a sort of balance between her TCW portrayal and her Rebels portrayal, since that's kinda where she's at psychologically in this world. We'll see if I succeeded. Hope you enjoy!

**The Nettle Soldier**

_Once upon a time, which is all times and no times, but not the very best of times, there was a king who was at war._

_Now this was not so unusual of itself, as all monarchs must go to war at least once during their reign, but this king was at war against an army of golems, creatures of stone and steel called into being from the very living rock by means of dark magic. It was by the masters of these creatures, the Acolytes, that the kingdom was besieged._

_The Acolytes were an order of dark sorcerers, learned in the ways of magic, but for whatever reasons of their own had turned away from the life-affirming teachings of the Mages, the wise circle of magic-users who advised the royal family._

_No amount of soldiers the kingdom could recruit and train would ever be enough to stand against the golem armies so, in an effort to assist the king, the Mages created a magical working of their own – the seed warriors._

_They were not mindless slaves like the golems. The seed warriors were true beings with living souls, grown from seedlings by the power of the Mages. By that same power, they were quickly full grown men, able to be trained as soldiers._

_With the aid of the seed warriors, the tide of the war quickly began to change. An end seemed to be in sight. Of course, the war could not truly be won so long as even one Acolyte remained alive, but the situation was much less hopeless than it had been when the golem army had first marched on the kingdom. This change in the tide came just in time for the queen to give birth to twin children, a prince and princess. The two little ones were dearly loved by all the kingdom and each person who took up arms in the king's name fought all the harder to protect the royal heirs._

_Among the king's soldiers were two warriors in particular – a captain of the seed warriors and the king's most loyal knight, a young woman of Fey ancestry training to become a Mage. They had lived through much of the war together and had become quite close in that time. Close as friends, and close enough to feel a certain stuttering of the heart at the other's smile. But it was war and there was little time for such things._

_Or at least there had been little time for such things **before** the final battle against the last of the Acolytes, an elderly magic-user who had once been a count._

XxX

Rex gave an enraged cry as he cleaved his battleaxe through the stone chest of yet another golem. A small moment of fierce joy stole across his heart as he watched his enemy fall.

In the old days, the creature might've simply reassembled itself, but Dooku no longer had that kind of power. Looking around to see if anyone still needed help, he was relieved to see the Acolyte forces falling before his brothers' advance. But among the retreating pockets of fighting, there was one face he didn't see.

"Cody!" he called out when he spotted the commander taking down two more golems. "Ahsoka! I- Lady Tano," he corrected himself. "Have you seen her?"

"She's with Master Kenobi and the king. They went after Dooku."

"Thank you," he bit out before rushing off in the direction the Acolyte had last been seen, back toward the waterfall. It didn't take long to find them. The three warriors had fought Dooku to the very edge of the battlefield, their white steel blades catching the light as they clashed. The formidable Acolyte looked to be on his last legs, barely holding back the attacks of the three magic-users as they moved across the riverbank.

"This is pointless, Dooku," Obi-Wan told him as he sidestepped the former count's latest attack. "You are beaten."

"Better to die defeated- than to bend a knee before a weak king!" the Acolyte snarled as he intercepted Anakin's latest blow, their blades tangling together in a deadlock. When Obi-Wan attempted to move in on him, Dooku held him back with a wave of power.

"It might not be _me_ you're on your knees before, though," the king told him, smirking as Ahsoka came at them from the side.

Dooku caught the movement just in time to send the three of them flying with a sudden burst of power. Obi-Wan was thrown backward into the river while Anakin was sent skidding back several feet along the slippery river stones, barely managing to keep his feet. But Ahsoka, the focus of his attack, was sent flying the furthest of all. She was flung back against the cliff face, nearly into the waterfall itself. When Rex heard the sickening _crack_ of her head impacting against the stone, something inside of him similarly cracked in fear.

"AHSOKA!" he shouted, only vaguely aware of the king's mirrored cry as he rushed to her side. Anakin rushed Dooku with an enraged roar while the seed warrior gently rolled the knight onto her back, being careful of her head. He almost didn't notice the king forcing the Acolyte beneath the rushing water of the falls.

At first there was no response. Ahsoka lay completely still, her head lying listlessly on Rex's lap. Had she...was she...?

"_No_," he hissed, tearing off his helmet and checking desperately for the signs of her life. Breath, heartbeat, _something!_ "Ahsoka, _please_. Don't do this. _Not now_."

He was so intent on rousing the stricken knight, he almost missed Obi-Wan emerging from the river, wiping water from his eyes as he crawled toward them.

"Is she..."

Ahsoka groaned then, banishing any doubts. Being a little less careful, Rex crushed her against his chest in a tight grip, relieved just to feel the warmth of her breath against his neck.

"Hey, Rex," she mumbled against him. "Still alive?"

The seed warrior gave a stuttered laugh as several tears slid down his face. "He's my king and I will follow him to the ends of the world, but sometimes I really wish you hadn't inherited that reckless streak of his."

"You and half the kingdom," Obi-Wan put in with a sigh, though the relief on his face was just as apparent. He seemed about to say something more, but then he looked up, as if something Rex couldn't hear had called his name. As one, he and Ahsoka looked toward the thundering falls just in time to see a gush of red blossom into the water, flowing down into the river. A moment later, Anakin emerged from the falls, the water washing away the last of the Acolyte's blood from his sword.

"It- it's over?" Rex whispered in disbelief.

The king nodded, breathing heavily as some combination of relief and shock moved across his face. When the seed warrior looked away from the riverbank, out toward the battlefield, it was to see the last of the golems collapsing into dust and rubble. A ragged cheer went up from his brothers as Anakin stepped out onto the field, holding his blade aloft. With a look of pride in his eyes, Obi-Wan raised his own sword in salute, crying out, "To the king!"

But as his brothers flocked toward their king, Rex found his own attention drawn to the woman he still held in his arms. Ahsoka...Lady Knight...comrade and friend...and...

Though she was plainly exhausted and still unsteady, she smiled up at him with such warmth in her eyes it about took his breath away. Then, seeming to come to a decision, she reached up to take his face between her hands and pulled him down into a fiercely passionate kiss.

That one really _did_ take his breath away. At first, he was so shocked he didn't know _what_ to do, eyes going wide in amazement as he knelt there on the riverbank with Ahsoka's lips against his. Ultimately, though, he groaned and melted into the embrace, wrapping his arms more tightly around her and opening his mouth to hers, as if they could simply drink each other in.

It wasn't long before he heard cheers and whistles from his brothers that had absolutely nothing to do with their victory.

XxX

The celebration lasted well into the night and Rex honestly didn't remember much of it. His attention was too much on Ahsoka, on her smile, her laugh, her joy. Not that a good portion of his attention _hadn't_ been focused on her these last few years, but now there was a different light to all of it. Now he knew his feelings were returned and that brought a kind of rapture to his heart he hadn't known it was possible to feel. And with every look, every touch, and every kiss, that elation soared all the higher.

_Can this be real? Can this be happening to me?_

Every other moment, he found himself wondering if maybe he hadn't simply died during the battle. Maybe he _had_ died and this was his heaven? If that were the case, he could say without reservation that it wasn't a bad heaven, that there were no doubt far worse ways to spend an eternity, but he did find himself drawn a little more back to reality when he heard the scolding but fond voice of his king.

"Padme, you shouldn't have brought them," Anakin reprimanded, though the tone of his voice was anything but reproachful.

"And why not?" the queen teased her husband. "It's safe now. They wanted to see their father."

Rex looked up from the fire he and Ahsoka and many of the others sat around to see Anakin welcoming his queen to the war camp. Padme was dressed in a simple blue gown and she carried a twin in each arm. Her handmaids were always on hand to help with the little ones when needed, but the queen was insistent on handling them herself whenever it was possible.

Laughing, Anakin took their son in his arms. The little prince was already wriggling to try and escape the tight bundle Padme had wrapped him in as the royal family headed back toward the fire.

Of the twin children, Leia was calmer, more watchful, but Luke was a little ball of warmth and energy, on display now as he giggled for the circle of soldiers. Then he noticed Ahsoka and immediately reached out for her. Continuing to laugh, Anakin shook his head as he passed his son to his knight.

"I don't know what it is, Ahsoka, but I'm pretty sure Luke prefers you over me."

"Well, perhaps there _is_ such a thing as accounting for taste," Obi-Wan joked with a completely straight face. Everyone laughed as Ahsoka took the baby boy in her arms, and she giggled in kind as he cooed and reached out to touch her lekku.

"Well, I like him, too. Such a little scamp," she said, nuzzling her nose against his.

"He'll be a chore and a half to keep up with once he's walking," Obi-Wan noted with a faint smile.

"And I'll bet his father was just the same when he was his age," Ahsoka teased, her gaze shifting between the Mage and their king. The Mage shook his head in fondness.

"Oh, he was that. But in my defense, I was little more than a child myself in those days. I could tell you a tale."

"Yes, you could, and most of them end with _both_ of us looking like fools, so let's not," Anakin pleaded with his mentor. Perhaps they spoke more, but Rex didn't really make note of it. His attention was on Ahsoka and Luke.

The knight was singing quietly to the baby prince, the words some ancient Fey tongue she'd told him she didn't properly know the meaning of, but that she still somehow knew. He couldn't deny how it warmed something in his heart to see the way she smiled down at the little boy, to hear the way he babbled and tried to sing with her. He couldn't quite help the mild blush that stained his cheeks when she caught him staring.

"Better be ready, Rex old boy," she started with a different sort of smile as she turned Luke to face him. "I want about a hundred of these."

It was interesting, the captain would think months later when he looked back on this moment with fondness and with heartache, that the first image Ahsoka's words inspired in his mind was not anything connected to actually _making_ that desire a reality, but instead an image of her with a baby at her breast. A perfect little child with her Fey looks, maybe with his eyes.

"Well, our captain's nothing if not diligent," Gregor teased in that odd, sing-song way of his. "He can probably get you there, Milady."

"_Gregor!_" Rex snapped in shock, feeling the blush spread to the rest of his face.

"Rex, you can face down an army of thousands and not even bat an eye, but faced with one little dirty joke and suddenly you're coming apart at the seams?" Anakin ribbed. "I guess it's a good thing the golems had no sense of humor."

"It's just- the men shouldn't be talking about a Lady Knight like that, Your Highness," he started, trying to make things formal.

"The captain is quite correct, Your Majesty," a new voice joined the conversation. They all looked up to see Master Palpatine hobbling toward them, one of the elder Mages. Likely he'd arrived with Padme's entourage. "Peace time is no excuse for disciplinary lapse among your men. It sends a poor message."

"Master, we've all fought side by side. We've bled for each other. I consider these men my brothers if anyone. I believe we're all entitled to a little good-natured ribbing after years of war," Anakin pointed out.

"Oh, far be it from me to suggest otherwise. Merriment is certainly warranted on a night such as this," the old Mage said as he slowly crossed the gathering, coming to unceremoniously pluck little Luke from Ahsoka's arms. "I merely meant to serve a gentle reminder for the coming days. Much will change for our seedlings in peace time, after all."

A small wave of tension passed through the gathering at Palpatine's choice of words. None of them had ever been able to figure out if his little term for them was meant to be demeaning or not, and nobody really dared ask the old magic-user. Either way, it wasn't their place to cross him. It was because of Palpatine's deep knowledge of Mage lore that the working to create the seed warriors had even been conceived. He was ancient and wise, but that didn't make him pleasant. Even Luke didn't seem to much like being held by him, beginning to whimper and kick petulantly within his blankets. As awkward as things had suddenly become, though, it was nothing compared with the reaction to the Mage's next words.

"Indeed, if Lady Tano chooses to take the captain as her _concubine_, certain standards of decorum will have to be maintained."

Rex didn't think much on the term that had just been applied to him (it was what he'd expected, after all), but he could almost see the air around Ahsoka ignite as she stiffened at the old master's words. The shock in her eyes quickly hardened into cold fury.

"Do not," she sharply interrupted Palpatine's next statement, "insult my comrade so, Master. We have fought side by side against unimaginable odds. He is more family to me than _any_ of my fellow knights. You are wise and I respect you, but rating him as nothing more than a stud or a bedwarmer is slander of the worst kind."

"My apologies, Lady Tano," the Mage said, looking at her with a strange, confused sort of interest. "I seem to have misunderstood your intentions. But what are they if not that? After all, there is honor in fathering a knight's child. But _more_ than this? Surely not. Your own status not withstanding, what do our seedlings know of life at court? Is it not unfair to the captain?"

Rex had no idea what he'd expected Ahsoka's response to be, but it was decidedly _not _what ended up happening. In his earliest days of knowing the Fey knight, she would have leapt to her feet with literal licks of lightning flashing in the air around her, her rage on display for all to see. Her anger was no less plain to all of them now, but there was a sort of grace to it as she rose to her feet, the lightning reflected in her eyes rather than imposed upon the air.

"If you suggest Rex is somehow less worthy than any other man in King Anakin's court, I will gladly challenge you for the insult. Rex has my heart," she said, her expression growing tender as she looked back to him. "I will love no other as I love him. I take him...to my hand and to my heart...if he'll have me," she said, extending her hand out to him.

For a moment, all the seed warrior could manage to do was stare at the offered hand in shock. This would have to be solemnized by a priest to be binding, but...her words...they were the words of the ancient marriage vow. It seemed her intention was to marry him here and now with their fellow warriors as witnesses.

Was it what _he_ wanted? Yes. There's was no doubt of that in his mind as he looked up at her. But as badly as he wanted her and wanted to be with her, it didn't mean Master Palpatine didn't have a point. She deserved someone better than him. She deserved the best. But that was a conversation they ought to have privately. At the moment, she was expecting a response. So he reached up to take her hand, letting her pull him to his feet. Then she was kissing him, _deeply_, and much too long for any sort of appearance of propriety. But did Rex mind it?

No. No, he did not.

By the time they separated, the cheering and calling was starting up again in earnest. Ahsoka briefly turned her attention back to Palpatine with a cheeky smirk.

"Now if you'll excuse us, Master, we have a consummation to complete," she said, taking Rex by the hand again and leading him off in the direction of her tent.

"A wedding!" he heard Jesse cheering back at the gathering. "We're gonna need a few fresh barrels of mead!"

He was also more than a little pleased to hear Luke protest being held by Palpatine by finally outright screaming. It wasn't long, though, before the other sounds of the war camp began to fade away.

"I just can't believe- the utter _nerve_ of him," Ahsoka grumbled, more to herself than to him.

"Ahsoka-"

"I understand he was one of Anakin's teachers, but if he thinks he has a right to just go about-"

"_Ahsoka_," he interrupted her a little more sharply this time, digging in his heels to stop their forward motion.

"Hmm?" she asked, finally looking back at him.

"It's- not as if he's _entirely_ wrong," he couldn't help pointing out. They would have to have this conversation at some point.

"What are you saying?" she asked him, something in her gaze chilling.

"I mean...I would've understood if I was just to be your lover. I love you. I've loved you for _years_, and I'm happy to be with you in whatever way I can, but...you have status. You have a future. You'll be a Mage someday soon," he struggled to explain. "What am I compared to that? I don't- think I'm worthy to take your hand as your equal. I'm just a soldier. What sort of message does it send to them...if you choose someone like me?" he finished helplessly, gaze dropping to the ground between them.

"Well, the message _I_ would think it sends is that I have good taste," she attempted to joke, but when she couldn't even get a smile out of him, she lifted his face between her hands so she could look him in the eye. "Who else are you worried about, Rex? The only people I see here are you and me."

"The court...the nobles...any of them...I don't know."

"Have I ever cared what _any_ of them thought?"

"No," he answered with a faint, helpless smile, reaching up to where her hands rested to take them in his own, drawing them down to rest over her heart. "I just- don't want to diminish your future in any way...if this was a decision made by alcohol, or by a desire to spite some stuffy old Mage. I love you too much for that."

The young knight stared at him a long while, a tender, almost teary smile moving slowly across her face. When she finally spoke again, it was with a small tremor in her voice.

"Well...if I had any doubts you loved me for _me_, that washed them all away. While I admit Palpatine may have pushed me into being a little too- _forward_ with my desires, it was never my intention to have you as anything but my partner...for the rest of our lives. I didn't know how to say it to you before tonight, but I love you. I fell in love with you...every time we trained together, or fought side by side. Every time we talked through the night, or when we didn't talk at all, just sat together, laughed together, _cried_ together...every time a little more...until I was completely, _hopelessly_ in love with you. If not you, I will have no other. But this needs to be _your _decision, too," she said as she released his hands, taking a small step back from him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, _thinking _he understood what it was she wanted, but wanting to be certain it wasn't just wishful thinking on his part.

"I mean I said the words. Now it's your turn," she said, tilting her head to the side with a similar cheeky look to the one she'd used with Palpatine, only now there was a depth of love and fondness to it, and that look was directed at _him_. "Maybe you took my hand just now with a similar wish to spite a presumptuous old man, thinking maybe there wasn't any meaning in the gesture. If you take my hand now, I want it to be with the understanding of my full meaning when I first offered it to you, and the full measure of your own desires. You know what _I_ want, Rex. What do _you_ want?"

At first, he didn't know what to say. Words had never come easily to him, but she had always managed to draw them from him with seeming ease. He wanted to show that to her; how she brought out the best in him, and now she was offering him a lifetime in which to show her. Slowly, maintaining eye contact with her the entire time, he dropped to his knees before her. Then he took both of her hands in his, pressing a kiss first to one hand, then the other. Then he leaned forward to press a kiss to her belly, resting his head there for a long moment, breathing her in as he gripped her hands tightly in his.

"I love no other as I love thee," he said softly against her, the words more formal in his mouth than in hers, but that was just their way. "I take thee to my hand and to my heart, to share thy joy and sorrow both, and to stand beside thee as thy husband and friend," he said as he got back to his feet, keeping ahold of her hands. "For all our life...and until death..."

"Together shall we be," Ahsoka finished, rising up on tiptoe to press her lips to his. And as they kissed, she drew him slowly backward, into her tent.

They took their time undressing each other, she unhooking pieces of his armor while he reverently removed the layers of her fighting leathers. They had seen each other naked before, of course, but this was different. It was like seeing her for the first time, and it was like _being_ seen for the first time as her eyes roved his body. Her hands traced the contours of his shoulders and the hard planes of his chest while his caressed the soft curve of her hips, the smooth strength of her back, and the gentle fullness of her breasts. He drank greedily of her lips, pouring forth _years_ of unspent, unspoken desire with every kiss.

The fall onto her pallet happened so gradually, so naturally, he almost wasn't aware of it. He was more concerned with getting his mouth on as much of her as he could, with tasting the sweat beneath her lekku and lapping at the dip of her navel. All the while, her fingers and teeth sought out the most sensitive places on his body, teasing at his thighs and nipping at his neck. Logically, he knew he wasn't going to last very long this first time, but that didn't matter much in the moment. He was with her, and he was in paradise.

They were joined almost before he'd realized it, him pinned beneath her as the warm folds of her body parted to allow him entrance, taking him in a little deeper with each roll of her hips. He called her name helplessly as they moved together on the rumpled bedding.

"_Ungh_...'soka...my lady," he cried out, a plea...a prayer...an offering...the gift of everything that he was – all to her.

"Love...my Rex...my love," she returned, breath for breath, her tiny cries mounting with each move.

His head fell back when she brought him to his climax, mouth falling open in a tiny scream as his seed pulsed into her womb, filling her belly.

It couldn't have been long that they held like that, him lying enraptured as he gazed up at her, frozen in a perfect arch above him, but to him it felt like a kind of eternity, watching her suspended like that with a look of perfect bliss on her face. When time finally started to move again, she gave a little sigh before slowly collapsing on top of him. They rolled languidly to the side, but when he attempted to pull back from her, she stopped him with a hand on his hip.

"No. Not yet. Let's stay like this," she said, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"But...you didn't- you haven't come yet," he tried to argue, eager to share with her just what it was she'd given him. She laughed easily, running a hand along the side of his face.

"I know. But the night's still young. We have time. This time...I want to do everything I can to make sure this takes. I was being serious earlier, Rex. I've watched Padme and Anakin with Luke and Leia for too long now. I want that. I want your seed to take root inside me. I want your child growing in my belly," she told him. Then, using the power in her deceptively slender body, she rolled them both so that he was lying on top of her, with her body pinned beneath his and him still sheathed securely inside of her.

"Nothing would bring me greater joy, My Lady, than to be the father of your child...and to raise our family together," he said, smiling down at her before drawing her into a quietly passionate kiss.

As Ahsoka had said, their night was _very_ young at that point. They sailed the waters of pleasures so rapturous and so obscene, it would've made even the bawdiest of bards blush to sing of it. After so many years of struggle, they were together at last, and they were happy.

Rex should've known it couldn't last.

XxX

"Come on, lovebird. It's time to rise and shine."

Rex couldn't at first make out which of his brothers was speaking. Drawn back through a haze of sleep and bliss, he had to struggle to lift his mind from it.

"Piss off, Brother," he managed to grumble. His ire was met with a quiet laugh.

"Now, Rex, chain of command notwithstanding, is that any way to speak in the presence of your Lady Knight?

Those words brought his thoughts into somewhat sharper focus, and he became aware of the supple body he still held in his arms, soft and warm against him. When he blinked his eyes open, it was to see Ahsoka beside him, sleeping peacefully. There was nothing between them but the skin they were born with. Smiling like an idiot, he leaned over to lay a kiss on her forehead.

"My Lady," he said softly, adoringly. "My love."

"While I appreciate that you're on something of a honeymoon right now, you're also literally the only other brother in the camp who's not blind drunk right now. Come on. We still need to keep a watch."

Well, there was only one brother who would continue to be so straitlaced at a time like this. Rex looked up to see Cody standing at the entrance to Ahsoka's tent. In the pale moonlight beyond, he could make out a handful of other brothers grumbling. Rex sighed, gaze drifting between Cody and Ahsoka.

"What's one man more or less?" he tried to protest.

"Because a watch needs to be composed of eight of us. Come on, _Captain_, you don't want your new bride murdered by some unseen adversary _you_ could have prevented from sneaking into the camp in the dead of night, do you? Come on. You can come back to her when it's light."

That did it. Cody knew exactly how to motivate him. _He needed to defend his Lady._ Drawing her close one last time, he pressed a worshipful kiss to her lips, whispering, "I love you," before extricating himself from the intimate tangle of their bodies, making sure she was covered by a blanket before going to dress himself in the dim light.

Often in the coming months, when he thought back to his last sight of Ahsoka, he would find himself half-wishing he'd simply stayed in bed with her.

When he exited the tent, it was to see Cody standing with six other brothers. Jesse and Gregor, who both looked like they'd _almost_ managed to reach drunk before Cody must've stepped in. Kix and Wolffe, who didn't drink much on principle. And Fives and Echo, who both seemed to wish they _had_ gotten drunk. It was a very sullen watch that headed out of the camp not long after, going out to make the rounds of their perimeter.

"So how was it?" Fives couldn't seem to stop himself from asking.

"You really think I'm just going to kiss and tell?" he fired back with a roll of his eyes, knowing his brother wasn't likely to press him _too_ seriously. But really? To just come out and _ask_ like that? He would happily teach the younger seed warrior a lesson in the sparring ring later.

"Call us curious. You've only been mooning over Ahsoka for, what, five years now?" Fives half-teased. "And those are only the years you've been _openly_ mooning."

"Keep your peace there, soldier. I _don't_ moon," he insisted sharply, to which even Cody himself couldn't seem to help chuckling a little. Rex shook his head as he grumbled, "All right, fine. I suppose there may have been a _little_ mooning."

"Don't be too hard on them, Captain," Kix put in formally, though he still reached over to give him a brotherly dig in the shoulder. "We're all just happy for the pair of you. Everyone's been wanting to see you confess your feelings for the longest time now. We're glad the two of you found each other."

"On another uptick, we get to watch your little demon spawn grow up. Looks like our Lady's going to keep you busy," Wolffe pointed out. "Maybe we'll be able to-"

"Hush," Cody suddenly gave them all a sharp warning, holding up a hand for silence. "Something's happening."

They had come back to the riverbank where the war had ended. At first glance, nothing appeared to be wrong, but then Rex saw what the commander was looking at – a light glimmering through the torrents of the waterfall. There was something in the caves behind the falls.

Quickly defaulting to gestures, Cody took point, leading them toward the light. Rex took up the rear so as to prevent any attack from behind. Thankfully, the torrential thundering of the falls hid any sound made by their armor, and that was likely the effect whatever interlopers these were had been going for, because it wasn't until he'd passed through the water himself that he could see or hear anything that was happening.

Master Palpatine stood at the far end of the cave system, hands out-stretched from his voluminous black cloak as he spoke some ancient incantation. A rune working Rex didn't know the meaning of was painted on the wall and, as Palpatine chanted, the scrawl of symbols began to glow. The louder he chanted, the brighter the light became, until the runes suddenly seemed to catch fire, and as they did the cave wall cracked from floor to ceiling and an indistinct figure almost seemed to melt from the broken stone. Rex didn't need to see that figure shake off the dust and debris to know it was Dooku. Not a sound came from any of the seed warriors, but he could still feel the collective inhale of shock from all of them.

"I suppose I should thank you," the former count coughed as he continued to dislodge stone from his person. "I was beginning to wonder if you really _intended_ to come and set me free."

"Apologies. I had to wait until most of the camp was in a drunken stupor. You may depart from this place whenever you wish, but I would advise sooner rather than later. We can't have them asking questions just yet."

"And what will you be doing in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, our king shall become complacent. With this great war won, his reign shall burn brightly. And while Anakin and Padme are occupied with rebuilding, Luke and Leia shall be left largely in _my_ care. Just think of it. The high king's flesh...his blood...his _heirs_, at _my_ instruction, _my_ influence. I shall teach them to have little need of their parents and _great_ need of me. And as the years pass, the kingdom will become more and more our own. We will make our move when the time is right."

Focused as he was on the scene unfolding before him, Rex almost didn't see Cody's small gesture directed at him – a sign to go back, to warn the king of what was happening. But before he could make a move, Palpatine's next words struck them all through with dread.

"Although, it seems we have a slight problem to remedy first. I have been careless in concealing my working tonight. It appears not _all_ of the seedlings indulged in the king's gifts. We have a pack at our very door."

Before Rex could react in any way, he found himself held by some invisible force, completely unable to move, and judging by the small shouts he heard coming from his brothers, they had all met the same fate. They were helpless to do anything but watch as the two Acolytes slowly approached them, moving soundlessly through the small pools of water. Palpatine sneered viciously at them as they drew closer, a hand held out to keep them immobile. Dooku raised his own hand to lift all of their helmets free, allowing the two wicked magic-users to look them all in the eye.

"Don't you know it's _rude_ to eavesdrop on a Mage of the king, _Commander__?_" Palpatine bit out with that same disgusting sneer as he came face to face with Cody.

"Sheev Palpatine," Cody growled, struggling futilely against Palpatine's hold on him, "in the king's name- I charge you with high treason."

Palpatine laughed at this, a thin, ugly, cackling sound. As he spoke, he raised his other hand to complete some other working. "Do you now? And just how do you propose to bring me in, _seedling?_"

With that, the former Mage released them all, dropping them half-choking to their knees. But when Rex attempted to move, looking back to find a way out of the cave, he found that they'd somehow- changed locations. The cave mouth no longer let out upon the riverbank they'd entered from. Instead it opened onto a sheer cliff face, the waterfall now thundering down into the ocean hundreds of feet below, the breaking waves already beginning to crash with the weight of an oncoming storm.

They were trapped. Trapped with no way to warn the others.

"No threat, truly," Palpatine began, drawing his fingers thoughtfully to his lips. "But death is too swift, too merciful. Your punishment for attempting to defy me must be more...suitably _lingering_. I would have you know your own failure. To be trapped, unable to warn your fellows and your king of what you know, and to go on living with your _guilt_ when all is said and done," he said as he walked up and down the ragged line of them, finally coming to a stop before Echo, pale fingers reaching out to trace along the seed warrior's equally pale armor. "Ah, yes. I know."

Rex couldn't understand the words Palpatine spoke when he lifted his hands this time, but he could certainly feel the sinister bend of them. Almost immediately, he began to feel light-headed, a haze quickly descending over his mind. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the beat of wings and the call of birds.

Echo was the first to react, collapsing into a convulsing tangle of limbs, screaming in agony as he clutched at his head.

"Echo!" Fives cried out, but he was the next to fall, struggling to hold back that same agonized cry as he curled in on himself.

As his brothers dropped all around him, Rex watched in horrified shock as Echo's armor melted and transformed into feathers. They sprouted all over his body, and as he gradually shrank, his scream changed into the shriek of a bird's call. His arms shifted into wings and his neck lengthened until, when the ghastly transformation was finally complete, a swan was lying on the ground where Echo had been.

The transformations were happening all around him, his brothers screaming in pain and terror as their bodies twisted into their new, cursed forms. Somewhere within his own haze of horror, Rex was only dimly aware he hadn't yet begun to change. He was simply caught in the sway of the enchantment, his mind too far gone to attempt to act in any way.

Then, out of the whirling storm of his shifting brothers, Cody suddenly burst through to him, some abominable half-man, half-bird _creature_. With what little action remained in his melting human fingers, he shoved Rex backward, sending him back through the waterfall.

He was too shocked to cry out. Time seemed to slow for him as he fell through the grey, sea-sprayed air. Why Cody had made such a desperate choice between changing into a swan and a fall that would almost certainly kill him, he was never likely to know. At least he wouldn't have to live with the knowledge that he'd failed his king...failed _Ahsoka_...

But just as he was resigning himself to death, he happened to look back up, catching sight of a small white blur shooting out of the cave mouth. One of his brothers! No idea which one, of course, but the sleek bird dove straight for him, ultimately clutching weakly at his wrist with his webbed feet.

One by one, his brothers escaped from the cave, all blazing down toward them. They couldn't _stop_ his fall, but they could _slow_ it...just enough...

The impact with the water was still unbearably painful, though. It was so hard, he immediately began to feel himself losing consciousness, sinking beneath the waves.

_No!_ If he passed out now, he would drown! He'd made it this far. Faintly, he struggled to remove the armor weighing him down, even though he was afraid he might already be fighting a losing battle.

He was so far gone, he could hardly tell what was happening anymore. His mind consumed by the strains of the enchantment, likely injured from the fall, lungs burning, struggling against the lack of air in them. He no longer knew if it was real or imagined, but he thought he could feel the brush of feathers and beaks against his body, and it wasn't long before that body stopped obeying his commands altogether.

The last thing he was aware of before losing consciousness entirely was the hideous sound of Palpatine's wicked laughter.

XxX

Ahsoka knew something was wrong the moment she woke.

She would've loved to linger in her pallet, enjoying the sensations still lingering in her body from last night's activities, but she couldn't ignore the pall that seemed to have descended over the camp. Where was Rex? Had he gone to see what was happening?

_No_.

Rather than waste time dressing, she pulled a simple robe from her meager possessions and slipped out into the cold, grey light of dawn. Many of the seed warriors were still sleeping after last night's festivities, but a fair few were awake, looking either like they didn't want to be or like there was an unpleasant reason to be. Making her way toward the royal tent, it was Obi-Wan she ran into first.

"Obi-Wan, do you know what's happened?" she asked him, reaching out to grip his sleeve before he could pass her.

Before he'd even spoken, she felt her heart tremble with fear at the look of pity in his eyes.

"Last night's watch failed to report in. A patrol was sent out to search for them. None have returned yet. Rex was one of the watchmen," he told her without her having to ask.

"I see," she said softly, allowing the Mage to continue on his way before covering the rest of the ground to her king's tent.

Anakin was within, going over a map with Fox. Padme was listening in while she nursed Luke. Whatever they'd been discussing, they all fell silent when she entered.

"There's been no word then?" she asked, letting them know they didn't have to tell her what was happening.

"Nothing yet, but don't worry. The boys are tough. I'm sure we'll find them," Anakin said, offering her an encouraging smile.

"Any theories on what they might have encountered?" she asked as she approached the table the map was laid out on.

"Well, the Apsolonians have been quiet these last few years. As have the Mandalorians. But just because the Acolytes have finally been defeated doesn't mean we don't still have enemies out there," the king said.

"Could they have encountered...Fey emissaries?" Padme mused uncertainly. "The Gate isn't all that far off from where Dooku was defeated."

"It's not impossible, but they've been quiet for longer than the Acolytes have been a threat. I doubt they're fool-headed enough to piss off the Fey, but if they did..."

His words were interrupted when Leia began to fuss, sobbing softly in the cradle she shared with her brother.

"It's all right. It's all right, Leia," Padme tried to soothe her, moving back toward the cradle. "You'll get your breakfast in a few minutes."

Ahsoka exchanged a look with Anakin. Maybe Padme didn't notice because she was busy trying to keep everything calm, but...Leia _never cried_. She hadn't even cried when she was born, leaving the physicians to fear that she was sickly in some way, but that had never been the case. She was simply an unfailingly calm child. Even at their age, both twins had already started to display signs of magical ability like their father. Leia was a very sensitive little girl. For her to start crying _now_...

"You're all right," Ahsoka started in, moving to help the queen with her daughter, choosing to ignore the worry that had passed between her and her king. Lifting Leia from the cradle so Padme could finish feeding Luke, she rocked the little princess soothingly, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head. "Everything's going to be all right."

_It **has** to be._

She didn't know what it was. Whether it might've been worry over Rex, Leia's sudden fear, or merely her proximity, but Ahsoka _knew_. The knowledge rode heavily inside of her. She carried a child in her womb from the night past. Rex's child. It had barely begun to grow, but she knew it as surely as she knew her own name. They were going to have a baby.

But...was that baby..._fatherless_...already?

It couldn't be. _It couldn't be._

"My King!" Tup called out as he rushed into the tent hardly a moment later.

"What news?" Anakin asked anxiously as he came around the table to meet the seed warrior.

Tup was just about to speak when he suddenly noticed that Ahsoka was present. The way his face fell at the sight of her caused something inside of her to crack, but she still needed to hear what he had to say.

"What news?" she pressed, echoing Anakin as she came to stand at his side.

Slowly, Tup brought out something he'd been concealing behind his back. It was one of the seed warrior's helmets, and beneath the spattering of blood that covered it, Ahsoka recognized the distinct markings of Rex's helmet.

"My Lady," the seed warrior said as he presented the helmet to her, his voice heavy with grief and pity. "This is all we found."

Ahsoka wasn't really aware of Anakin taking Leia from her, nor of taking Rex's helmet in her hands, but she found herself holding it nonetheless. The only noise to register in her brain as she gazed at the empty helmet was the sound of her own blood rushing through. Neither was she truly aware of dropping slowly to her knees until she actually found herself on the ground.

"Rex?" she whispered, gently pressing her forehead against the cold metal of the armor.

But then, through the oncoming wave of her grief, a single thought came to her.

If Rex were dead...she would _know it._ Wouldn't she? She would be able to _feel_ the lack of him. She'd had no reason to distrust her instincts so far. Why should she start now? Even if she couldn't sense exactly where he was right now, she could still feel him in her heart. She was _not_ going to give up on him.

"No," she said, her voice firming up as she climbed back to her feet. "I believe- I _know_...that wherever Rex is, he's alive. I'm not going to stop searching."

XxX

Rex hadn't really expected to come to again, so his first gasp of breath when his eyes burst open was both sweet and sharp. Sitting bolt upright, he coughed out several ragged breaths, gaze darting around to take in his surroundings.

He was lying on a beach, and not one he recognized, either. His armor was gone, leaving him in just the plain cloth he wore beneath it. The sun was just beginning to creep up out of the ocean, so he hadn't been lying here long enough for it to burn him, but he could feel the layers of salt spray encrusting his skin, telling him he'd either been in the ocean for several hours or that he'd been lying exposed to the ocean breeze for just as long.

And all around him lay swans.

Some seemed to be asleep, others awake but exhausted, and at least one who was awake and watchful. Rex felt it when the bird's eyes alighted on him.

_Thank the Gods you're still alive._

Rex gasped at the voice he heard in his head.

"C- Co...Co- dy?" he choked out in shock, the words like stones in his mouth.

The swan- his brother- _Cody_\- tilted his head curiously to the side.

_You can...understand me?_ he asked uncertainly.

Faintly, Rex nodded, tapping at his temple. "I..._hear_...in- inside," he struggled to get the words out. Why was it so hard to speak?

_It must be a psychic connection of some kind,_ one of the other swans, Kix, put in, slowly lifting his head from the sand.

_Maybe because the spell started to affect you, but wasn't completed,_ Cody theorized as he got to his feet, waddling across the sand toward Rex. His words conjured up horrific memories of his brothers transforming...of the ugly sound of Palpatine's cruel laugh.

There was no sense in wondering if it had all been a dream or a delusion. The evidence was all around him. But there was so much he still didn't understand.

"Why?" he struggled to ask. "Why...d- didn't I-"

_Why didn't you change with the rest of us?_ Cody supplied, rather than force him to attempt to get the words out. Rex nodded. _We don't know. I pushed you out when I did **because** I saw the curse wasn't affecting you yet. Maybe it would have if it'd had a little more time, so I did what I had to. Sorry if I gave you a turn._

Rex shook his head. "Ha- had...to. W- wa...was- best."

_And not to sound indecent or anything, but...the only possibility I can think of is that it all has something to do with the fact that you were with Ahsoka._

All Rex could manage at that was a look of confusion.

_It makes sense,_ Fives was the next to join the conversation. _After all, she- she **is** Fey-descended. With her training to be a Mage and with her ancestry, no telling what kind of power she could've been sharing when you were together._

_Small miracles, _Gregor joined in. _At least one of us still has opposable thumbs._

_Likely it was her that protected you, but who's to say how much longer she might've done...or if she still could if we try to go back,_ Cody mused.

"W- whe...where...are w- we?" was the next question Rex managed to force from his mouth. It was so hard to make the words come up out of his throat. It was like each syllable was anchored by a weight in his chest, and it took all of his strength to drag each one up.

_Across the Sundering Strait,_ Echo answered this time, plainly weary as he lifted his small head to point off into the distance with his beak. Following the gesture, Rex looked out across the sea, barely able to make out land in the distance. _We're not- really sure which island this is, but it **has** to be part of the Grey Hand Chain._

Rex looked around at all of his brothers at this, all of them so plainly exhausted, even stern, unyielding Cody. Had they really...?

"You...c- c- came...all...that w- w- way?"

_Wasn't easy, either. You're not exactly light,_ Jesse tried to joke, unable to raise his head from the sand.

_We pulled your armor off. You would've drowned if we hadn't,_ Cody explained. _I think the only reason we got away at all is because the storm came in. Didn't have much choice but to go through it, pulling you with us._

No wonder they were exhausted. Such a feat was unheard of, at least by human standards.

_**Can** we even go back?_ Wolffe was the one to finally verbalize what they were all thinking. _That old snake would either capture or kill us. Who knows what lies he might be telling them?_

"Have...t- to," Rex ground out as he climbed to his feet, moving away from his brothers and closer to the surf as he stared back at the mainland. "'s- 'soka...the k- king...b- br- bro- thers...every- everyo- one."

_He's right,_ Cody conceded. _We can't just leave them to Palpatine. He'll destroy them all and take the kingdom for himself._

_Granted, but what's it going to look like if Rex goes back there with a bunch of swans and hardly able to speak? The bastard could tell them anything he wanted to and we wouldn't be able to say otherwise, _Fives reasoned.

"Ahsoka," Rex said firmly, not speaking until he was certain he could speak his love's name without mangling it. "She...she w- will...be- b- believe...us."

_Still leaves a good chunk of ocean between us and her_, Cody reminded him. _Maybe there's a way to get a message to her._

Steeling himself for whatever lay ahead of them, Rex took one last look at the distant shore, closed his eyes, and turned back to his brothers.

"You...all...sh- sh- shou...rest. I'll...s- scout."

_You shouldn't go alone. Fives?_ Cody asked the least-exhausted looking of them.

_Sure. I'm up for it_, Fives agreed, hopping up on his webbed feet and waddling over to join Rex.

_Just don't do anything foolish_, Cody reminded them as they headed away from the beach, off toward the treeline of the nearby forest.

_Well, we've already done that,_ Fives relayed back. _Don't see how we could do much worse._

It didn't take them more than a day to get the lay for the entire island. It wasn't very large and what Rex couldn't see for himself, Fives could typically take to the skies to see. Dusk was rolling in as they made their way through the island's interior, heading back toward the beach. It was during this particular jaunt that they come across the first sign they'd had of human habitation.

An abandoned village.

After a thorough inspection, the little settlement did prove to be completely deserted, and Rex figured he understood why when they came upon an overly-crowded graveyard. Whatever tragedy had occurred on the little island, it had claimed the lives of most everyone who'd lived here.

_Pitiful sight_, Fives commented from a perch in a tree that overlooked the graveyard.

"S- sad," Rex barely managed to pull the word from his throat as he walked among the weathered headstones, noting a fading inscription on one of them that stated its occupant had been only a few months old. "S- so...sad."

Like the village, the graveyard was gradually being reclaimed by stinging nettle. Rex had to be careful of them as he moved, a single brush from one of the stinging plants warning enough to prevent him from making the same mistake twice. He couldn't say what it was, perhaps his and Ahsoka's only too recent conversation about having children, but there was just something so disheartening about seeing the resting places of little babes so overrun with such a harsh plant.

"Feel them, do you?"

Rex spun sharply around at the sound of the voice, hand instinctively going for a battleaxe he no longer had. His eyes were greeted by the sight of a strange little..._creature_ hovering – honest to Gods _hovering_ – above one of the headstones.

The tiny being was green and withered with age, elfin in appearance. His eyes appeared large within his head, but also hooded, as if the figure were half asleep. His large ears twitched several times and, as Rex and Fives watched, he drifted slowly down to the ground, hobbling just as slowly forward with the help of a cane, seeming not to be bothered in the slightest by the nettle.

"No harm do I mean you, soldier of the king," the tiny being said, clearly having read his intent in his aborted movement. "Only saw how you felt the lingering spirits of this place, I did."

Rex's shoulders dropped minutely upon meeting the creature's serious but still somehow whimsical gaze. Then he looked back toward the headstone that stood guard over the little baby he'd noticed earlier.

"Sad," was all he could manage as the last rays of daylight shone upon the stones. Fireflies began to appear among the roughhewn memorials.

"That it is. That it is," the diminutive creature agreed with a nod. "All dead. All too quickly. Linger on, many of those spirits do. In darkness and in doubt. Still here, their power is. Call to you, it does."

Rather than attempting to speak, Rex just offered the tiny being a fresh look of confusion. The creature looked into his eyes, into _him_, and nodded. As if he'd reached some sort of decision.

"Touched by Fey light, you have been. Within you, some of your Lady's light remains. And within you, the place where meet the two powers, the strength to break the curse upon your brothers lies."

That got the seed warrior's attention but quick. Still finding it no easier to speak, he asked of the tiny creature, "W- wh- who are- y- you?"

The being gave a small chuckle at this. "_What_ I am, you know. More than this, do you require?"

Sighing, Rex shook his head. He supposed not. If this little Faerie really knew of a way to help his brothers, he could do nothing less than hear him out.

"If unbroken this spell remains, permanent it will become. Help you, I can, but steep the cost to yourself may be. Ready, are you?" the Fey being asked, looking at him sideways out of the corner of his eyes.

Rex nodded. "R- re- rea- dy. T- tell...me."

Nodding gravely, the creature looked back out into the yard. "In this very graveyard the path to helping your brothers begins. In this hallowed place, sharp and brimming with power grow the stinging nettles. Collect the nettles and crush them into ink, you must. But...complete this task with bare hand and foot you must, so the two powers mingled they will be."

Rex winced at the thought. After all, just one brush with a nettle had been enough to dissuade him from further contact. To gather them _willingly_ with bare hands...the agony would be great, nearly unbearable, even. But...if this was the only way to save his brothers...

"For this task, a spell of my own will I give you. With the ink you create and a quill made from a brother's feather, write out the spell upon your own skin, you will. By the first day of Autumn, complete the inscription must be. When finished your task is, go you to the Standing Stones at the northern tip of the island. Stand upon them that day and, with the touch of the first rays of light, broken your curse will be."

Rex nodded as he listened. He and Fives had seen the stones on their earlier track of the island. He knew this would be difficult, but not impossible. His brothers had saved him, protected him, even though they couldn't protect themselves. They were his _brothers_. He _owed_ them this. Besides, if they couldn't thwart this curse and return to their home, then _everything_ they loved would be lost.

_Rex_, Fives tried to get his attention.

"But be wary you must," the diminutive Fey warned him. "Once begun, your words and your brothers' lives woven into the working shall be. If, before the curse is broken, attempt to speak or write you do, pour forth only the spell will, and strike like daggers in the hearts of your brothers those unfinished words will. Still to help them, do you desire?"

Rex took a step back from the little elf in shock. This spell...risked _killing his brothers?_ He wasn't worried about himself at all, but...to risk _their_ lives when they had already sacrificed so much? Could he really do that?

When it was the only way they might be human again? Yes. He had to. But just as he was about to nod, Fives' squawking got his attention.

_Rex, this is insane! You **know** how insane this is, right? Never mind risking **our** lives. We're soldiers. It's what we do. But you...you'd be in constant pain. Do you think we want to watch you suffer like that? Just for us? No. We'll find some other way. There **has** to be another way,_ his brother pleaded desperately.

Rex shook his head. "No. Is...n- n- no...othe- other...w- way. Have...t- to."

_But-_

_He's right, Fives,_ Cody's voice suddenly entered the debate. Looking up, Rex saw his brothers come winging down into the graveyard. Who could say how they knew what was happening? Perhaps Fives had called to them. Either way, they were here now. _We have to get back. We **have to**. Otherwise, everything we fought for will be for nothing. I don't want to watch Rex do this anymore than you do, but we don't have any choice. We're seed warriors. This is what we were bred for. Is there any one of us who wouldn't willingly make the same sacrifice?_

Fives lifted and lowered his head in a move that was reminiscent of a sigh. _No_.

Rex smiled gratefully at Cody. He, at least, understood.

_Besides,_ Gregor started in, _it's not like it's gonna be a **huge** challenge for you not to speak right now._

Rex offered his brother a wry side eye before turning his focus back to the Faerie, nodding once in resolve.

"I...will...do it."

"Kneel, then, soldier of the king, and grant you the words of the inscription I will."

Rex did as the small figure asked, kneeling before him. Then the Faerie placed a single gnarled, green hand to his forehead and Rex could actually _feel_ the knowledge flowing into him. It wasn't something he could describe on any sort of sentient level. It was simply a _knowing_. The energy thrummed faintly within him, making him feel more awake and alive then he'd ever before felt. The scent of earth, of growth, decay, and rebirth, filled his nose like a sweet perfume and the gentle breeze settled about his shoulders like a mantle. The waxing light of the rising moon seemed to light up the graveyard bright as day while the fireflies danced all around the tombstones, creating delicate patterns of color and light he'd never noticed before. And the waking night _sang_ to him. _Oh_, how it sang. The whistle of the winds, the chirping of the insects, and the stirring breaths and calls of all the night hunters rose in a quiet symphony all around him. With the power now flowing in his veins, he was connected to all of it, and he would use that power to right the wrongs done against them.

"All of it, that is. No more aid may I render," the Faerie said quietly. "Good fortune all, warriors of the seed."

Then he was gone, and Rex and his brothers were alone in the graveyard.

XxX

(A/N) So...care to hear the rest of the tale?


	2. Second Night

**The Nettle Soldier**

_Second Night_

It didn't take much to find the supplies he needed in the village. A large stone basin, a glass bottle, a knife, and a stone to sharpen it with. Rex's first step was to use the new-sharpened blade to fashion a quill from one of Cody's feathers. Once it was ready, he turned to the less pleasant task of gathering the nettles.

Though he had steeled himself for it, he still had to resist the urge to cry out when he picked the first nettle. The sting of it travelled from his hand straight up his arm, begging to be released as a shout. But Rex bit his lip, stubbornly refusing to give voice to his pain as he pulled the stinging plant up by its roots.

He gathered an armful of the vicious plants in this manner, keeping the agony of it carefully concealed beneath silence and a stern grimace while his brothers looked on. Then came the actual process of making the ink.

He laid his armful of nettles in the large basin and began to crush them beneath his feet, pressing the liquid from them. This was no less painful than gathering the nettles, the pain of it lashing against his bare feet like sharp knives, but he forced himself to keep going. Several times he felt he might pass out or throw up with the pain, but he kept at it. He kept going until he'd leached every last drop of fluid from the nettles. When he poured his yield into his bottle, it was a dishearteningly small amount of green ink.

It took him nearly all night to fill the bottle.

When he was finally able to sit down to write, the enchanted ink burned like fire from the moment of the quill's first contact with his skin. That first symbol he laid to the back of his hand was pure agony, like the spell had a will of its own and was fighting his, resisting being pulled from his mind. He tried to focus on the faint green glow of the lines now inked upon his skin, but even that failed to shake off the pain after a time when the night had already been so long. The torment of the powerful magic now in his skin ultimately did cause him to pass out, dead to the world for many hours.

It was late in the day when he woke again, finding himself lying in the shade of one of the abandoned houses. A pile of wild berries and a small jar of water had been laid out beside him. Kix, Echo, and Wolffe had settled in nearby; to keep an eye on him, he supposed. When he shifted to sit up, it was to find his hands and feet loosely wrapped in the leaves of a different plant. He didn't recognize what sort of plant it was, but he could already tell that these leaves were having a soothing effect on his burning palms and soles.

_Those leaves'll help with the pain,_ Kix told him. _You can probably bind them better than I can right now, but I'd leave them on until you start working again. Cody also said to make sure you ate everything they brought. You need to keep your strength up._

Rex had to stop himself from inhaling the food, realizing with a painful rumble of his stomach that he hadn't eaten for nearly two days. While he ate, he nodded at his brothers, raising an eyebrow and nodding down at the berries.

_Oh, we ate already,_ Echo explained in response to the gesture.

_Wasn't pretty, either,_ Wolffe grumbled.

Well, this wasn't much prettier by comparison. The taste of the wild fruit was sharp, verging on sour, but if Cody and Kix had okayed it, he was going to eat every bite. After all, he wasn't going to be much help to anyone if he didn't eat.

His attention was soon drawn away from the meager meal, though, when he happened to glimpse the back of his left hand through the crude leaf binding. A single line of the inscription, written clumsily across his knuckles. That was all he had to show for a whole night of work. He sighed heavily as he finished off his meal with a long drink of warm water from the jar.

Four months. He had four months until the first day of Autumn. Four months to complete this impossible task. Could he do it in time?

Well, no sense in wasting that precious time asking questions he didn't have the answers to. He needed to get back to work.

XxX

_In this way, the weeks passed for the captain and his brothers, working day and night in order to complete the Faerie's inscription, suffering the agony of it in silence. But the missing seed warriors had not been forgotten by the world beyond their island haven._

_The young knight had not yet given up her search._

XxX

"So what is it you would have me do, Ahsoka?" Anakin asked as he turned back to face her, the silence in his study amplified by the hard look he was giving her.

"I would have you submit Master Palpatine to a trial of truth," Ahsoka told him.

It wasn't easy for her to ask it. She knew just how high in the king's esteem the old Mage stood but...something had long felt out of place about him. It wasn't that any leads she'd uncovered in her search for Rex and the others had pointed her specifically in Palpatine's direction. It was just that something felt..._wrong_.

While she'd been locked into her quest to find her lost lover, Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan, and many of the other Mages were often away from the capital, helping to rebuild their devastated kingdom. More and more often, she'd found, the rule of the capital seemed to be left in Palpatine's hands, and while he should've been an excellent resource for her whenever she was home in between her long searches, something inside of her always stopped her from seeking him out. She couldn't name what that something was, nor explain it properly to anyone else, but she heeded it nonetheless. She was _not_ going to gamble with Rex's life.

The king sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Master Palpatine was the one to forge the spell to create the seed warriors in the first place. I can't understand why you think he would hurt any of them."

"It isn't- necessarily that I believe he would _harm_ them. More that I feel...he might know more than he's saying. If it really is all just in my head, what's there to lose from a trial of truth?"

"His trust, for a start. The trial of truth is a very...invasive working. Both for the ones working the spell and the one under trial."

"But he-"

"_Ahsoka!_" the king snapped before she could finish, reaching up to grip her shoulders. "I get it. Believe me, I do. If Padme or the twins were missing, I'd do everything in my power to find them. I know this must be harder for you," he said, hand moving down to trace just above her stomach, where the flat, toned plane was just beginning to swell. "But unless you can bring me some kind of evidence of foul play, there isn't much I can do."

"My own instinct isn't enough?" she asked, not having to crane her neck to look up at him nearly as much as she had when she was younger. Sometimes it served to remind her king that she wasn't a child anymore – that she would soon have a child of her own.

Anakin sighed in frustration as he took a step back from her, shaking his head. "It _should_ be enough, shouldn't it. They teach us to trust our feelings, after all. Unfortunately, politics are a lot more complicated than that. I know you want to believe Rex is still alive somewhere, but-"

"This isn't like that," she insisted, risking interrupting him. "It's not just something I want. It's something I _know_. _I would know_ if Rex were dead. Wouldn't you know if Padme were dead?" she pressed, despite knowing what dangerous territory it was.

And indeed, the king couldn't quite manage to keep her gaze, turning away with a look of pain twisting his features at the very thought.

"You _would_, wouldn't you. This isn't just the wild delusion of a woman missing the father of her child. I feel this in my _soul_, my king."

The look of pain shifted to a look of weary pride as he looked back at her, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder once more. "Why do you think I haven't ordered you to give up this madness? I trust you that much, 'soka, but there are some things you should be considering. You need to be thinking about you and the baby right now. You aren't going to be able to go off on these long searches for much longer. It's not good for either of you."

"I know that. I just- I also know that if Rex hasn't come back to me yet, it's because he _can't__,_ and that could mean any number of things. It could mean he's hurt, or in danger, or _we're_ in danger. I don't know," she admitted, letting the fear she typically kept buried through to the surface for a tiny moment. "What I _do_ know is that he needs me, and I can't _bear_ the thought of abandoning him when he needs me, but..."

"It's not just him or just you you have to worry about anymore," Anakin finished for her, a look of understanding in his eyes.

She nodded as she turned away from him, unable to take the look. She didn't _want_ to choose between her love and their child but, if it came down to it, Rex could handle himself. The baby was helpless, depended on her to put its needs above everything else.

"I know- Rex would want me to take care of our little one first," she said with a soft smile, a familiar feeling of mixed joy and sadness filling her heart as she imagined Rex's reaction to the news that he would be a father. She could just picture the way his face would break into a shocked, amazed smile. "It's just- hard to imagine that choice being before me...and not being able to search for him..."

"You'll make the right choice," Anakin said with a nod. "I don't doubt it. But if it's still Palpatine you're worried about, I'm going to need something more to go on," he reminded her.

"Understood," she said, offering up a small nod of her own before heading out of the king's study. She didn't know what she could possibly offer up as more concrete evidence, but she felt certain she could find _something_.

"My Lady Tano!"

Speak of devils...

Ahsoka turned to face the old Mage as he hurried toward her down a corridor. He was jiggling a fussy Luke absently in his arms.

"Master Palpatine," she acknowledge him with a curt nod that bordered on rude.

"Have you found anything, My Lady?"

"No. Nothing's changed," she admitted with a heavy heart, though she was wary that he was sniffing about now.

"Once again, My Lady, you have my deepest sympathies. I realize all too well how dreadful all this must be for you. To lose the father of your child so soon after-"

"He _isn't lost,_" she said firmly. "I _am_ going to get him back."

"I meant only that he is not among us right now, of course. After all, it would be a terrible tragedy if the captain were not able to be present for the birth of his child...to watch that child grow," the Mage said as he stepped slowly closer to her.

"That won't happen," she said, voice quiet but vehement. It was difficult for her not to take a step back from him with how close against her he was drawing, but she refused to back down from him. The ancient face beneath the hood was kindly, always had been, but now, allowing herself to think about it maybe just a bit too long, it almost seemed like more of a caricature of a kindly expression – like someone had labored too long over the laugh lines and the gentle sheen of the eyes, and they had suddenly become harsh by the light of day. She couldn't explain it; not really, but in this moment she was frightened of this man she'd known most of her life. Well and truly afraid.

"Of course it won't. Perish the thought. You are, after all, the best of the king's knights, and will one day become a powerful Mage. _Nothing_ will stand in your way, my dear," he extolled, smile halfway to curdling as he reached his free hand out to touch her belly – the place where her defenseless child grew.

The moment the old man's hand came into contact with her body, Ahsoka felt as if she'd been plunged into ice water. She'd been intent on not backing down but, in the moments before that touch, a large part of her had been screaming to do something, _anything_, not to allow it; not to allow that presence anywhere _near_ her child. But neither could she show fear before him, so she'd permitted it to happen, and now here she stood with her senses enveloped in cold and darkness. He continued to speak kind, encouraging words, but they were completely at odds with what she _felt_ from him as he kept his hand and power pressed against her.

**_He is lost to you, foolish girl. There is nothing you can do to change his fate._**

_You know something, You **do!** Tell me where Rex is! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!_

The thoughts and impressions were mixed, so horribly tangled she could hardly tell up from down anymore. Lost, floundering in the sudden mire of anger and dark and control, her failing senses focused themselves on Luke. He had been so upset earlier, but had now fallen into something of a lethargic state. It wasn't just the usual exhaustion of a child either. There was something unnatural in the boy's drained stillness.

_Something's happening. Something's **wrong**. What is it? What is it?_

_Protect them! They can't protect themselves. You **have** to protect them!_

The thoughts of Luke and of her own child finally allowed her to pull herself free of the strange metaphysical morass she'd become enmeshed in. She stumbled back several steps, putting as much space as she could between Palpatine and herself. She didn't realize she'd collapsed to her knees until the Mage was there beside her again.

"Dear stars, Lady Tano, are you all right? What is it? Are you in pain?"

"No," she insisted as firmly as she was able, waving his hand away when he attempted to touch her again. "I don't know what...I just felt- faint," she said, keeping her focus on Luke as she continued to deter the old man.

"Shall I fetch you some water? Or perhaps you would like help returning to your chamber?" he pressed, still trying to reach out and touch her.

"That won't be necessary," she said, barely managing to keep him back, but while he was focused on her, she did manage to slip past him and pull Luke from his arms. "I'm certain you have duties. Allow me to hold onto the prince for now, though. I find his presence soothes me."

She felt something inside the old Mage twinge at the small trick, but he only smiled at her. "Of course, My Lady Knight. Whatever you desire. Do return him safely, though," he said stiffly as he moved back to his feet. She pointedly ignored him when he offered her a hand up.

"Always," she said with a nod, allowing Palpatine to turn and leave first. She waited several minutes, making certain they were alone and that she was steady on her feet before walking away.

As she moved, she rocked Luke in an effort to rouse him from whatever trance he'd fallen into. Though she couldn't fathom just what, she knew that _something_ had happened just now. It was all so tangled, she could hardly even tell if Palpatine had actually been the cause of it or had merely been present at the time. Whatever the case, he was connected to it. He was part of this. She only hoped she could figure out _how_...before it was too late.

XxX

**_You cannot hide from me, seedling._**

_He's searching for them. He knows he is. He feels it every night...feels the sinister will reaching out with evil intent._

_Every night he seeks, and every night he fails._

**_I will find you. You know I will. Why do you continue to resist._**

_He torments his dreams, shows him visions of his brothers trapped as swans forever, visions of their deaths...brought down by ignorant hunters...by their very own brothers, even..._

_He forces his mind through the transformation into a swan...forces him to watch his body twist and reshape, fingers and limbs twisting painfully into feathers and wings, his horrified scream transforming into a bird's call...just like all the others..._

_He shows him visions of the world that will be...the downfall of the king and his house...the fruits of his failure..._

_He shows him visions of his **own** death...killed by a spell, or maybe executed for some ridiculous charge. However it came to be, he sees himself dead...dead and buried in the ground...body rotting away as worms burrow into his flesh and the earth reclaims the bones that were magically wrought from her own deep power..._

_No matter how horrific the nightmares that have come before have been, though, there is worse still to come._

_Tonight is different._

_Tonight the monster shows him **her**. He shows him the face of his precious love, twisted in grief as she mourns him. Her cries are the most heartbreaking sound he's ever known._

_"Rex...oh, **Rex**."_

**_Ahsoka..._**

_He sees her smiling...a baby at her breast...his love...their child..._

_His family._

_He sees them surrounded by darkness, nightmare yellow and red eyes peering out of that darkness as clawed hands reach out to snatch at them. The child sobs in terror as Ahsoka cries out for him._

_"Rex...please...help us!"_

_He wants to cry out her name, to go to her. He would give almost anything just to be able to say her name...only he can't. He made a promise. A **promise**._

**_What is your promise when stood beside her life? The life of your child? Give yourself over to me, seedling...or watch them die!_**

_The fanged darkness snatches the child from her arms. Something inside of him shatters to hear her broken cry._

_"NO! Not my child! Don't take Rex's child away from me!"_

_He has to help her! He has to-_

_But there's nothing he can do._

**_Ahsoka! AHSOKA!_**

_She looks into him as the darkness surrounds her, claims her. At the very last, her eyes become that same nightmarish yellow and red._

_"You left me," she accuses. "You **abandoned** us. How could you let this happen?!"_

_Then she's gone, and he's alone, alone with the monster in his head._

_"Scream," his enemy commands, voice dripping with the anticipation of the kill._

_And he does._

XxX

Rex woke from the nightmare with a sharp gasp. Only his years and years of military conditioning kept him from screaming outright. He was curled into a tight ball, his injured fingers clawing so desperately into the earth, he was half-amazed none of the bones were broken.

_Rex?_ Echo's 'voice' came from nearby. _Are you all right? What is it?_

He was so wrung out, he couldn't even bring himself to look up at his brother. If he loosened his grip on himself for even a moment, he knew he would never be able to regain it. He would just go mad right here, the image of Ahsoka being consumed by darkness burned forever within his eyes.

_What's happening?_ Gregor's voice came from a greater distance, probably on watch.

_It's Rex,_ Echo responded. _I think it was another nightmare._

Rex himself could offer no explanation one way or the other, so he just lay there, trembling on the cold ground while tears poured silently down his face.

Palpatine knew what they were up to. With the power their Fey benefactor had sown beneath his skin, Rex could sense that much, but by that same token they seemed to be protected against his ability to locate them. This was why the Acolyte had begun to attack his dreams, inducing terrifying nightmares, horrors the likes of which he had no hope of explaining to his brothers, so he simply bore the torment in silence, as he did everything else now. Because if Palpatine knew what they were up to, then he also knew what it would take to cause them to fail.

One sound, one tiny little scream, and it would all be over.

So Rex endured.

He endured the breaking of his body by the near impossible task laid upon him, and he endured the breaking of his mind and heart by the enemy who had cursed them.

Even so, even though he meant to endure until the end, until either himself or the curse was defeated, it didn't mean he didn't sometimes grow weary, exhausted from constantly facing down the threat arrayed against them. So, on nights like tonight, when it all became too much and the threads of his pitiful hope seemed to fray and snap all around him, he just had to curl in on himself and cry.

Slowly, one by one, his brothers came to gather around him, laying their much smaller, feathered bodies against his, soothing him in any way they could. As swans, there wasn't much they could do to help outside of see to his physical needs, but they could do this.

And gradually, as the seed warrior began to calm, he looked down through the feathers of white to see the faint green shine of the enchanted marks on his skin.

From his knees down, both legs were covered in the bespelled script, along with the entirety of his left arm. He'd even managed to inscribe a few of the lines across his belly and chest before needing to move to the right arm. As he was right-dominant, this final stretch was the hardest of all, with both the weight and will of the unfinished spell fighting against him and his own body challenging his attempts to form the Fey characters. Nothing about this task had ever been easy, and it was even harder now as he neared the end of it. He was only partway down his right arm and there were only a few weeks remaining until the end of summer.

There wasn't much time left.

Well, if he wasn't going to get anymore sleep tonight, he may as well get started on the day's work before sunrise. Despite the end being in sight, there was still so very much to do.

He couldn't give in now.

Not now.

XxX

_His smile as he reaches out to embrace her is like nothing she's ever known. He says nothing, but that smile speaks louder than any words ever could._

_"I knew you were alive. I **knew it!**" she sobs into his chest. "I never stopped searching."_

_He holds her close, cradling her tenderly in his arms as she relishes the rhythm of his heartbeat so close to hers. She has so many questions to ask him, so much to tell him, but it all passes from her mind as he draws her into a kiss. And even though she'd never truly given up hope, there had always been that tiny part of her heart that doubted, that feared she would never again kiss his lips._

_She's about to start her questions when she notices...sees the shine of power upon her lover's skin._

**_What..._**

_But just as she begins to try making out exactly what it is that's written there_, she jolted awake with a start.

Ahsoka came to in her own bed, panting sharply as she looked around the space. Sitting up slowly, she allowed her hands to drift to the gentle swell of her growing child, the understanding finally crystalizing in her heart.

She knew where Rex was.

XxX

_So, under cover of darkness, the knight made her way down to the city docks, commandeering the use of one of the navy's small scout sloops and setting out alone across the Sundering Strait._

_She'd taken pains to ensure no one knew of her departure, but even so, at least one soul was aware of her journey. Unfriendly eyes watched her every move as she made her way to the Grey Hand Islands, waiting for the right moment to strike._

XxX

Rex had begun the day in high spirits. Only a few words remained in the Faerie's inscription and there was still space enough on the palm of his hand. He only needed one more bottle of ink to complete it. So he'd spent the day gathering his last round of nettles and crushing them into ink. Knowing he'd finally come to the end of his task somehow made the familiar sting of the plants almost pleasant. As the sun began to set, he sat down at his makeshift stone table to write for the last time. He only had until morning to finish. Then the first light of Autumn would touch the Standing Stones, and he _had_ to be ready.

He worked diligently those first few hours of the night, struggling to force those final characters from his soul and onto his skin. The magic fought him harder than it ever had before, each scratch of the quill striking against his hand like a bolt of lightning. He gritted his teeth together, biting down hard on the screams that wanted to escape and ruin his efforts. He had to finish. He _had_ to. He was so close now.

Just one more symbol...

_Rex!_ Jesse's voice suddenly tore through his brain. _Someone's coming. I think it's...it looks like...karking stars, no **way.**_

Struggling to grip the magically charged quill in his bloody fingers, Rex looked to the forest, to the direction of his brother's voice, and what he saw emerge from the trees, he would never forget.

The full moon lit up the field that separated the forest from the village almost as clear as day, and when that pale light illuminated Ahsoka Tano appearing from the woods, he could almost swear his heart stopped.

_It- it can't be. It's got to be a dream...right?_

But the moment their eyes met, he knew it wasn't. She was really here. After so many months... With the way his heart swelled within him, it really did take everything he had left not to cry out her name in joy.

Even from this distance, his enhanced senses allowed him to see the way her eyes shone with unshed tears. Her expression was caught somewhere between elation and disbelief. And as that look crumpled into a tearful smile, she truly was the most beautiful sight he'd ever beheld. He almost didn't notice his quill spark and crumble quickly into ash.

_You found me. You came._

He didn't know which of them started running first. He just knew she was running toward him and he was running to her, bare feet pounding against the dirt and the grass, hardly feeling how much they hurt. He just had to get to her.

"_Rex!_" she cried out his name, her voice the first human sound he'd heard in _so long_. Only briefly did his heart twinge with guilt at being unable to respond in kind.

When they finally came crashing together, they were both in tears, his spilling silently down his face and onto her montrals as he held her. For several minutes, they did just that, holding each other and weeping, the world around them vanishing as they lost themselves in each other. And when they separated they were both breathing hard, as if the time apart had been some great physical exertion. Rex smiled down at her as he took in every detail of the face he'd missed so much. He knew each gentle curve and every soft hollow the way he knew his own name. Taking a moment to brush some of the tears away, he was soon holding her in his arms again.

"I knew you were alive. I _knew it!_" she sobbed into his chest. "I never stopped searching."

_I knew you wouldn't,_ he wanted to say to her, instead pressing the words into her skin with his lips. _I knew you wouldn't give up. It kept me going._

Then he put his lips on hers, kissing her again after so long. She wrapped her arms around his neck, as if she meant to pull him down into her. But the next moment, he felt a tiny flutter of movement between them that told him that might've happened already. Pulling back at the faint movement, he looked down to her belly, seeing a gentle curve outward that hadn't been there before. Inhaling sharply in amazement, he let one of his hands drift to the small swell, hovering just above it. When he looked back up at Ahsoka, she smiled at him, nodding.

"Our child," she said, sharing in the joy of the moment with him. But then she took his hand in hers to press it against the little bump and he hissed in pain at the sudden contact.

Ahsoka's features twisted in worry upon hearing the sharp sound of pain. When she looked down at his hands, he saw her eyes widen in shock at the sight of them, tiny pinpricks still faintly oozing blood and the skin stained yellow and green from the nettles.

"Rex," she whispered, gently taking his injured hands in hers. "What _happened_ to you?"

He couldn't explain it. Not really. Not until morning. But he supposed he could at least attempt to make her understand. Slowly, he gestured to the Fey runes that now covered his body. He knew that she, at least, could see more than the physical shape of them. She would be able to see some of the truth in the inscription.

Ahsoka studied the markings intently for several minutes, running her fingers over the faintly glowing lines.

"A curse," she said, more to herself than to him. "Rex...where are the others? What happened to them?"

While this had been going on, his brothers had begun to gather around them, not coming too close so as not to spring it on her all at once.

_My Lady_, Cody attempted to communicate with her, but she didn't react to his voice in any way, confirming what they'd feared. Only Rex could understand them. Slowly, Rex swept a hand around the loose circle of swans, gesturing to each of them. It was the most communication he dared attempt, fearful that even trying to mouth their names might invoke some unintended consequence. He couldn't fail now. Not when he was _this close._

At first, the knight didn't comprehend. She just looked around at all of the graceful white birds with an air of confusion. Desperate to help her see, Rex knelt in front of Fives, pulling her with him.

"Rex, I don't-"

Guiding her sight with his own eyes, he urged her to look into his brother's eyes, to see past the facade of Palpatine's spell. For several minutes, she just looked frustrated, but then, exhaling and steeling her patience, she did what he wanted; and as he watched, her expression changed, eyes widening in realization as she reached a hand forward, allowing Fives to come to her, leaning his small head against her hand.

"Is this-"

Ahsoka's voice was cut off in the middle of the question, her hands darting to her throat as a strangled sound escaped her mouth.

Rex felt her stiffen in the space beside him. His heart filled with dread as he turned to her, trying to figure out what was wrong. But before he could reach for her, she was lifted into the air by some invisible force, desperately struggling for breath, and the seed warrior finally understood when he heard the wicked, cruel laughter that still haunted his nightmares.

Palpatine was laughing as he emerged from the forest, hand raised as he strangled Ahsoka. His eyes shone red and yellow in the dark, mouth twisted in an ugly mockery of a smile.

"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, Lady Tano," he snarled, bringing his power to bear all the more fiercely upon her. "Still, it seems you will serve me more than one purpose tonight."

With no thought for his own safety, Rex launched himself at the Acolyte, delivering a round of fierce blows to his head before he managed to restrain him with his power. Breathing heavily in rage, the seed warrior was forced slowly to his knees, helpless to do anything but watch as Ahsoka struggled for her life.

Then, all at once, Palpatine was surrounded by a swarm of raging wings and white feathers as the other seed warriors attacked, pecking and beating at every bit of him they could get at. The man screamed in rage as he attempted to beat them back, unable to focus his senses on all of them at once. The sudden loss of control caused him to release Rex and Ahsoka. Rex quickly moved in to catch the knight as she fell, making certain she didn't hit the ground for both her and the baby's sake. Seeing she was unconscious, he took a single, heart-stopping moment to check that she was still breathing, relieved to feel the faint puff of her breath against his cheek. While his brothers swarmed all around, he held his love tightly in his arms, protecting her the only way he could.

"Filthy, disgusting _CREATURES!_" the Acolyte growled. "Haven't you learned better than to defy me by now? If you have not, then _so be it!_"

With that, a wave of power erupted from the magic-user, battering his brothers mercilessly. Rex heard their cries of pain in his head as they went down. His eyes darted among the swans in panic, the only reaction he was permitted to betray. He was at least relieved to note they were all alive, still twitching, just badly injured. Only...there seemed to be just six of them.

"And as for _you_," Palpatine snapped as he turned his focus back to Rex. At his command, fully grown stalks of nettle began to spring from the ground around him, wrapping their stinging stems around his legs and biting painfully into the skin, trapping him. As he began to struggle, the Acolyte came and took Ahsoka from him. Unable to prevent the nettles from taking hold of his wrists, he could feel something inside of him breaking as the last of his family was taken from him. He almost didn't hear Palpatine's words as he laid Ahsoka out on the ground several feet away from him.

"Did you truly believe you could thwart _me_, little seedling? You would _dare_ to challenge _me?_ I should just turn you into a swan now and have done with it. But no," the wicked sorcerer amended as he trailed a hand down Ahsoka's body, over the defenseless curve of her belly, pressing threateningly against the place where their child grew, innocent and unknowing. "Such a punishment is _far_ from fitting for your willfulness."

Rex struggled even harder against the nettles, little caring how futile a gesture it was. The only thing he cared for in that moment was Ahsoka, Ahsoka and the life they had created together. In that moment, he was prepared to give up anything, pay _any_ price, just to see her spared.

_Please!_ he would've begged. _Please don't harm her. Don't harm **them**. I love them! I'll do anything you ask. Just...please..._

But such pleas would've been useless, he knew. Ahsoka would never be spared. She knew too much.

"You are no threat to me. I can see that. Your spell is incomplete. And it will remain so for all of time, suspended upon the moment of your success, never to reach fruition. After all, imagine what the king will do when he sees what _you_ have done to his most faithful knight."

Rex's eyes widened in horror as the realization washed over him. Palpatine wasn't even going to finish him himself. He was going to manipulate Anakin into thinking he was a traitor, that he had turned on Ahsoka...that _he_ had done this to her! And Rex wouldn't be able to say a thing in his own defense. Their king was nothing if not protective of those under his care. If he actually _believed_ Rex had done this monstrous thing, he would be left with little choice or inclination but to execute him on the spot, his purpose unfulfilled, his brothers trapped forever, and Ahsoka and the child likely next to die after the brutal attack on them.

_NO! It can't end this way!_

"He will arrive shortly, the king. I signaled him before I confronted you. I imagine His Majesty will wish to perform summary execution for such a heinous act as this – a man...no...not even a man...a _creature_ attacking his lover and unborn child. I imagine it may prove to be grounds to question the mental stability of _all_ seed warriors," Palpatine taunted him with a mocking chuckle.

Rex! the captain suddenly heard the voice of the missing brother in his head. Echo!

Rex slipped his eyes shut, as if in despair, not wanting Palpatine to see his reactions. Tilting his head a little, he listened for his brother's voice.

_I'm getting you another quill. You've got to break the curse. You've **got to.** It's the only way to stop all this._

He couldn't agree more. Only how was Echo going to get him the quill without Palpatine noticing?

"Your Majesty. Master Kenobi," Palpatine's servile greeting soon entered his awareness. When Rex looked back to him, it was to see that he'd moved his hood down to conceal his eyes. Then his attention moved in the direction of the Acolyte's words, seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan emerge from the forest. He didn't suppose it would've been difficult for the treacherous former Mage to call the two men to him. While Ahsoka was still in training, it was easy enough for Mages of Obi-Wan and Anakin's degree to perform teleportation spells. Both looked like they'd gotten ready in a hurry. The king's eyes went wide in shock when he saw Ahsoka laid out on the ground.

"What happened?" Anakin demanded as he hurried to her side, checking over her vitals.

"I was barely in time to stop it, Highness. Such a terrible thing. The captain was strangling her. Had I been but a _moment_ later, well...our dear Lady Tano may well have been beyond saving."

"Rex?" Obi-Wan asked, his voice thin with disbelief as he looked to him, the question in his eyes as well as his voice. "Is it true?"

Rex shook his head fervently, willing the general to understand with desperate eyes. Obi-Wan, at least, might prove reasonable. He wouldn't just listen to Palpatine, despite what the evidence seemed to suggest.

"Then what _did_ happen?" Anakin snapped, anger flashing in his eyes even as he kept a gentle hand on the side of Ahsoka's face. "Care to explain yourself, _Captain?_ Maybe why you've been hiding all this time?"

He couldn't. One word, one attempt to communicate and he would be killing his brothers. He couldn't do that.

"Rex?" Anakin continued to press, standing and moving closer to him as an edge of desperation formed within his anger. "If you tell me you didn't do this, I'll believe you. But you _have_ to tell me what _happened_."

If only he _could!_ He would explain everything in a heartbeat...but...

_It's all right, Rex,_ Cody's voice suddenly entered his thoughts. Rex's horrified gaze darted briefly to the oldest of his brothers, weakly lifting his head from the earth. _If it's...the only way to save Ahsoka...your child...the whole karking **kingdom**...you can speak. We'd give our lives for that._

No..._No!_ After everything they'd been through, this couldn't _possibly_ be their reward. Could it? Except...they were seed warriors. This was the reason they existed...protecting this kingdom. Only...how could he make this choice for _anyone_ but himself? How would he even live with himself if his actions here tonight lead to his brothers' deaths? It was completely different from leading them in battle...making a choice he _knew_ would _murder_ them.

_Please...don't make me do this._

But no one would _make_ him do anything. If he violated the Faerie's command it would be of his own volition...his decision...either to save or to damn, who could now say? His brothers...his duty...

Ahsoka...the baby...

"Nothing. Not even one little world," Palpatine was suddenly cutting in, voice verging on that same mocking cruelty Rex had become used to. "If he won't speak even one word to save himself, it seems it is down to _me_ to reveal the truth, My King. The marks upon his skin..."

"What of them?" Obi-Wan was the one to ask, attention barely lifting from the marks in question.

"Dark magic of the most insidious degree. Who could say how or why, but it seems the captain has turned against us. The lines upon his body are an unnatural working to recall the dead. If my reading is correct, the spell is meant to awaken one of great and terrible magical power," the Acolyte lied.

"Dooku," Anakin hissed.

"Most likely, yes."

"Rex," Anakin tried again, pleading, eyes squeezed tightly shut for a moment, "tell me this isn't true."

"He cannot tell you," Palpatine narrated, as all the seed warrior _could_ do was gaze up at his king with his own sorrowful desperation, trapped between the choice of his brothers and everything else. "Because he knows that what _I_ say...is the truth. There is nothing to fear so long as the inscription remains incomplete, but this seedling's treachery would have led to the ruin of our kingdom. To the _deaths_ of your wife and heirs."

_That_ suggestion steeled something cold and harsh inside the young king. The desperation in his countenance hardened into anger as he glared down at Rex.

"Seed Captain Rex," he began in a cold voice, "I _never_ would have believed this of you, but I cannot ignore what's right in front of me. I can't dismiss what's been done to Ahsoka, and I can't help you if you won't _speak_."

The seed warrior swallowed heavily, never more torn in all his life. It was a choice that was no choice at all. How could he ever-

"So be it," the king said in a heavy voice, hand going for the hilt of his blade when Rex remained silent.

"My King, wait," Obi-Wan stayed him, hand venturing as close to the king's as he dared without actually making contact. "Something is out of place here. We need more information before we can just execute him."

"You would take that risk?" Anakin asked in a sour tone. "You saw what he did to Ahsoka."

"I see that Ahsoka has been attacked, yes, but there could be more to it. Are all your captain's years of faithful service to be rewarded with a blade through the heart?"

Rex would've kept listening to the balances of his fate being decided had he not suddenly felt the brush of a feather against his left palm. Not the feel of a brother's wing, but a single feather. The quill! Echo had made it. Somehow he'd managed to slip in behind him in their moments of distraction. Feeling along the length of the feather, he gripped it between his left thumb and forefinger. The nettles had him, keeping him from moving his wrists, but he could still just barely grip the quill and press the inked tip against the last bare stretch of his palm.

The lash of pain from the magic was sharp and instant. Rex had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from screaming. He could feel the lines of agony travel up and down his arm as he wrangled the very last of the Faerie's inscription from his ragged mind. The drag of the quill tip against his flesh felt like carving away a layer of skin.

Almost...there...

"NO! STOP HIM!" Palpatine was suddenly shrieking, apparently having sensed what was happening just a moment too late.

With the inscription finally complete, Rex felt a great wave of power swell beneath his skin, rising up and bursting outward in a blaze of glowing green. The magic shredded the nettles imprisoning him and continued on, flinging the other three men back from him. Looking down at his hands in shocked amazement, he could see that the Faerie inscription was now glowing brightly.

_Rex, you've got to get out of here! GO!_ Echo's voice was in his head again. Rex took only a moment to look to Ahsoka and the others in worry. Then he was gone, racing through the dark toward the Standing Stones.

He had to finish it.

His focus narrowed as he ran through the forest. He didn't think about why he wasn't being stopped, because certainly any of the three men had the power to do so. All he could do was run, panting harshly in fear and exertion. With everything that had happened, he had lost track of the time. How far off was sunrise?

What if he wasn't in time? What if Palpatine simply killed them all?

_Don't think! Just run!_

He knew the way through the forest. He'd been to the cliffs where the Standing Stones stood many times during Cody's enforced rests from his labors. He didn't stumble once in the dark, not until the very end when he spilled out of the trees and onto the grassy cliffs. The Standing Stones were there, just as always, but the sky overhead was still dark, barely beginning to grey. Scrambling back to his feet, he dashed toward the stones.

Laying his hands on the cool surface, he could see the ancient symbols carved into the rock. He could feel the magic of the stone circle calling to the power coiling and flowing just beneath his skin, so close, but still unable to connect. Without the link of the sunrise, this was all for nothing. They would all still be trapped.

_Please...**please!**_ he begged to whatever power might still be listening or even still _cared_. _You **can't** let the last four months be for nothing!_

But it would seem that his prayers were not to be answered.

"That is a lovely little trick, _seedling_," Palpatine's sinister voice half-cackled. When Rex looked back in dread to see him emerge from the forest, he almost seemed to glide over the earth, black cloak billowing outward around him like tendrils of breathing darkness. The seed warrior caught a brief, horrifying glance of his glowing eyes beneath his dark hood. "Perhaps that spell _has_ eaten away at some of my power, but there is still enough to finish you. This farce ends _now_."

Anakin and Obi-Wan were not far behind the Acolyte, but they didn't seem to notice the nightmarish vision Palpatine was becoming. Perhaps it was only apparent to Rex's own sense of magic, with the enchantment wreaking havoc in his veins. Somehow he didn't think his mortal flesh could contain the spell much longer.

"Rex, if you're innocent, why did you run?" Anakin demanded of him, attention focused solely on him as he drew his white steel blade.

"The spell is complete, My King. The seedling cannot be allowed to live to see first light. Otherwise our adversary will return, stronger and more wicked than ever he was before. Will you permit that?" Palpatine hissed.

"Anakin, _please_," Obi-Wan started to plead with him, forgoing formality in an effort to help him see reason. "We need to _think_ about this. He's your _friend_."

"And he betrayed me."

_No. Never. I would **never** betray you...but I cannot betray my brothers, either._

"This treachery might have destroyed all that I care for, all I am sworn to protect," the king said, cold fury lighting his eyes as he stalked slowly toward the seed warrior. "More than this, you've betrayed the woman you loved. I wonder if you would even feel guilt now, if you could've seen the long months Ahsoka struggled trying to find you, struggled through carrying _your child_ all alone. Does it mean _anything _to you?"

_It means **everything**, _he thought as he dropped to his knees before his king, feeling that guilt begin to grip at his heart. What Ahsoka had been through...he would never forgive himself for leaving her to suffer all alone. But there was nothing for it now.

"I don't _want_ to do this, Rex, but you leave me no choice. I can't risk that such a spell might be completed. I charge you with high treason, and on this morning sentence you to death. May the Gods have mercy on your soul," Anakin decreed as he raised his blade overhead.

"Yes. _Do it!_" Palpatine snarled.

Rex trembled but he did not close his eyes or look away. He would meet his failure, his death, head on. He inhaled one last time as the sword began to fall.

His time was up. He had failed his brothers.

It was because he had his eyes open, though, that he was able to witness the moment Ahsoka _appeared_ in front of him. Her very frame trembled with _rage_ as she took the full force of her king's strike against her own blade, preventing him from carrying out the execution.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin muttered in shock, uncomprehending.

"Back away, My _King_," she snarled in defiance. Then, with a cry of effort and emotion, she forced Anakin back, keeping her blade held in a defensive stance. "I _won't_ let you kill him."

"But- he attacked you," the king protested, lowering his weapon, but keeping it at the ready, prepared to do battle with his knight if he needed to.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Anakin, or what Palpatine's told you, but Rex never laid a hand on me. That was Palpatine himself," she told him, and as she spoke, Rex saw his brothers begin to appear from the woods, maybe too weak to fly after the Acolyte's attack, but still trying to come to his aid.

"Oh? _Really?_" Obi-Wan asked, eyes narrowing as he turned to look at the fallen Mage. "Anything to say to _that_, Sheev?"

"Simply that the Lady is obviously confused after such a brutal attack. I know what I saw, Sirs. However, My Liege, if you will not remove this threat yourself, I suppose it falls to _me_," he snarled, moving forward as he drew a white steel blade of his own from thin air.

"Wait-" Anakin started.

"_NO!_" Ahsoka shouted, moving to intercept him. Some of his brothers attempted to take wing behind her.

"DIE, SEEDLING!" the Acolyte shrieked as he raised the blade to strike, but Rex heard none of it.

The sun was rising.

As the first rays of light shone over the horizon, Rex scrambled up one of the stones to receive the light of the dawn from over the water.

The reaction was instant. The lines of the inscription leapt from his skin out into the air, curling rapidly toward the seven swans and enveloping them in light. As the green glow washed over them, they began to transform, bird limbs shifting back into human shape and feathers melting back into human skin and clothing. And the last strand of light...that was for Palpatine.

The Acolyte screamed in denial and agony as the strains of the Faerie's power melded with the broken shards of the rebounding curse, wrapping themselves around him and painfully boiling him away. While the others looked on in amazed horror, he melted down slowly, until all that remained was an ugly black smear on the grass, still smoking ominously.

While Anakin and Obi-Wan stared at Palpatine's remains in shock, Ahsoka ran to the other seed warriors, hugging each of them in turn.

"You're alive!"

"You, as well," Kix said with a smile. "You had us all worried for a minute there."

"Rex saved all of us," Fives insisted, directing this more toward the king.

"Rex, how did you-" Ahsoka started to ask, but her voice died in her throat the moment she turned back to look at him.

Rex was aware of none of this.

He was lying facedown at the base of the Standing Stone, completely unmoving.

"REX!" she cried out, racing back to him. Crashing to her knees beside him, she quickly rolled him onto his back, listening desperately for a heartbeat. She felt something in her grow cold when she was met with nothing but silence. "He...no...it _can't_ be-"

"How could this happen?" she heard Cody demanding as the other seed warriors gathered around them.

"Anakin?" the knight called out to her king, pleading, but Anakin just looked stricken.

"He's- I can't...sense his spirit..."

"No," Echo whispered.

"He- he _can't be gone!_" Kix snapped as he moved to his knees beside her, tracing the same paths she'd taken, searching for something – _anything!_

"Come on, you old faker. Wake up," Gregor pleaded with him. "We didn't come this far...for you to just quit at the last minute."

"Rex?" Ahsoka tried again, cradling his head gently in her lap, drawing it to rest against her belly. "Please...I finally _found you_. You can't do this now. Please..._wake up!_"

"Knew the risks to himself, the seed warrior did."

The new voice drew their attention back to the forest, to a Fey being Ahsoka had never seen before. But Cody's response to the diminutive being gave the knight the impression the brothers were familiar with it.

"_How_ did he?" the commander demanded. "I didn't know about this!"

"If known you had, have done anything differently would you?"

"Of _course_ we would have!" Fives snarled. "We didn't- _need_ to be human...not if it meant he had to give up his life for us."

"For you alone, gave his life you think your brother did?" the tiny Faerie asked as he moved toward them upon the air. "More than broke your curse my inscription did. Unwound the very power of the wicked one the captain's efforts did, and in so doing, protected this world from his evil. Always a chance there was that claim his life so much power would."

"No...he saved- _all_ of us," Cody hissed, the agony Ahsoka felt clawing at her heart manifesting in his raw tone. "This _can't_ be the thanks he gets! There _has_ to be something you can _do!_"

"Told you before I did. No more aid may I render. Beyond the bounds of my interference this is," he told them, gazing down at Rex's wasted body with a small note of pity in his large eyes. "Brave he was, to give and ask nothing in return. In kind, such devotion answered must be."

"What- what does that mean?" Ahsoka pressed, looking up at the little elf with desperation. Though he was small in body, she could sense just how much power was concealed within the tiny form. He looked her solidly in the eyes as he spoke.

"In your veins the blood of The People flows. Worn the coil of a mortal for too long you have. Cast it off you must, if wish to recall him you do. Believe in your love do you, Lady Tano?"

"Yes," she said without hesitation, looking down at Rex's ashen face. "He's never let me down. Not once. I believe in him."

"Then within you the power lies. But a little ways off his soul stays. Back you must call him," the Faerie said with a small, firm nod.

Ahsoka turned all of her attention solely to Rex. Breathing deeply, she reached a hand out to run her fingers through his ash blond hair. It had grown much longer these last few months. She had missed being able to touch it like this. The Faerie's inscription had left its mark on his body, the letters and symbols standing out starkly from his tan skin as sharp, white scars. If he lived, he would likely carry the scars always, but...he had to _live_...

"Rex," she started softly, gathering herself, "I don't know how to tell you how much I still need you...how much we _all_ still need you. I've never been much of a warrior poet. But- you promised me...all those months ago...to share both joy and sorrow with me; and I promised you. If I could have, I would have shared your sorrow all this time. You've been through so much. We...we both have," she whispered, her voice breaking over the words as several tears escaped her eyes. If this didn't work- _no!_ She couldn't let herself think that. "Isn't it time to share joy? Please...come back to me. I love you."

Then she pressed her lips against his, calling down all of the power that was in her, all of her faith, everything she believed in, called on it to enter him and anchor his fled soul. As she poured strength and light into him, she prayed silently, to him and to the whole of creation, for in her heart they were one.

_Please...don't leave me._

And it was from her lips that Rex drew his first breath.

His gasp against her was sharp, banishing all doubt as he coughed several times.

The snap of air in his lungs was a shock to Rex's system. He truly hadn't expected to draw breath again. He'd had only a moment to understand that the spell _would_ claim his life before the strength had begun to go from his body. He'd done nothing to resist it. If his life was what was required to complete the working, he would give it and gladly. He had witnessed his brothers becoming human again, but his last sight had been of Ahsoka, still standing between him and the rest of the world, protecting him, even though she couldn't fully know what was happening. Her faith had still been with him, even in the darkest hour.

_Thank you, my love. I'm sorry._

But he needn't have been sorry, it seemed, now finding himself cradled tenderly in her arms, feeling the wetness of her tears on his cheeks as she whispered against him, "You came back. I _knew_ you'd come back to me."

"Ahsoka?" he whispered back, voice trembling, unsteady. He was still very weak, his body having recently been used as a conduit for so much raw magic. It was the first word he'd spoken in four months.

"You're all right. Everything's all right now," she reassured him, pressing little kisses all over his face.

"You- you're...the baby...?" he tried to ask, finally opening his eyes to look up at her.

"Fine," she continued to reassure him, smiling down at him. "We're both fine. He's gone."

"Palpatine?" he asked, struggling to look around, but finding himself unable to lift his head.

"Destroyed. The spell finished him. Gone for good."

"And...the others? My brothers, they-"

"We're fine, too," Cody answered, his face coming into view beside Ahsoka's. "You did it, Brother. You broke the curse. We're free."

"Good," he said softly, relaxing back into Ahsoka's embrace, gaze drifting about to take in the sight of his brothers' human faces, all gathered around them. "That's good. It's- finally _over_."

There was still much to do, much to explain (exactly what had happened to them, the fact that Dooku was alive somewhere, and so much more besides), but Rex really couldn't bring himself to care all that much in that moment. Just then he was alive, he was free, and he was in the arms of his beloved. The kingdom was safe, the curse that had bound him and his brothers was finally broken, and he and Ahsoka had a whole lifetime ahead of them – a lifetime to raise their child, to be a proper family and to love one another freely.

"My Lady...My Lady Knight...Ahsoka...thank you. Thank you for believing in me," he exulted, weakly raising an arm to draw her down for another kiss. "I love you."

XxX

_And of course, because you are wondering, they did indeed live happily ever after._

XxX


End file.
